//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Five Score Divided by Four - A Mother and Daughter's Paths // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 6 ___________________________________________________________ I’m flying over Ponyville, trying to see if anypony is lagging behind. Sparkler and the Mayor are doing what they can to get everypony out, but eyes in the skies can help a lot. Less than half the town has made it out, but we’re going too slowly. We need to speed this up before— A scream causes me to whirl in midair, only for my eyes to widen in horror. Cloudy Skies in vanishing before my eyes, her pink-coated body and purple mane fading away into a white mist. All the while, she’s staring at me, utter pain and fear etched in her purple eyes. I’m frozen in place as I watch until she’s no more. “Wh-what...?” I stutter, slowly backing away. “Wh-what just happened?” “I believe I just happened,” a jovial voice says from behind me. I turn my neck to see the one who’d spoken, only to feel a fury finger place itself on my forehead. Next thing I know my body is screaming in agony as I feel it suddenly starting to just disappear. I’m looking into the red and yellow eyes of the cause for all the fear as he leers at me, before his starts chanting something. "Five score divided by four, Your memories removed, your body confused! For your insolence you must pay, Cast off to a land far, far away! I've scattered the six, and that's just the start of my tricks, Your mind shall be weak, your outlook bleak! Forgetting everything and living like a fool, You have all lost, now no one can stop my rule!” ___________________________________________________________ I jerk up, sitting up on my couch. I glance at the clock. 7:45AM. I grin. Wow. Almost slept through the exact time of my birthday. I shake my head, turning the TV screen only to see I’d died several hours ago in Rust. Despite it being an old game, having come out back in 2015, it was still fun to play, especially now that there were mods that let you spawn as ponies. I personally always chose Derpy Whooves. Why? She’s best pony, that’s why. And it’s always funny watching people’s reactions when they come towards me, thinking I’m food, only for me to turn around and blast them with whatever weapon I have. While many had said that, in the game’s early days, nothing was scarier than seeing half naked man, or fully naked depending on what settings you had on, coming towards you with bloody murder in their pixelated eyes, nothing was scarier than a pony turning around, holding a rifle, right before it blew your avatar’s head off. I did feel bad though. Since I always play using the Derpy mod for my avatar, I’d let Derpy die during my sleep. The reason I always fought so hard for her survival is because I like her so much. She was my favourite pony ever since her first appearance, even if said appearance had been an animation error. And the fandom’s building on her character had just made me like her more. And when the 100th episode came out and they gave her such a caring character, I just fell more in love with her. Though I did not like that she’d been renamed Muffins. I’d checked the end credits closely when that episode came out, and when I saw no Derpy, but instead Muffins, I’d put two and two together. Still, it didn’t matter to me what her canon name was. To me, she was and always would be, Derpy Hooves. I sigh, looking to the clock. 7:47. Just one more minute. Then I’m officially twenty-five. Yeah! I stand up, stretching. I turn to watch the seconds tick down. As I watch the second hand click closer and closer to the twelve, I think about all the things I got for my birthday from my friends online. Digibat made me some great Derpy fanart alongside my OC, a brown Pegasus mare with green eyes, purple mane and tail and an hourglass Cutie Mark. Heh. What can I say; I liked my OC being mistaken online for a pony Time Lord. Always got me a good laugh. Betamax sent me some Derpy figurines, one of which had an hourglass Cutie Mark instead of Derpy’s bubbles, no doubt from episode ten of Doctor Whooves & Assistant. The best though, came from my best friend Gamester Dash, who sent me a Derpy plushy she’d hand-stitched herself. It was so cute I had trouble not just hugging it at all times. I grin as the second hand is a second from the twelve. “Happy Birthday—” “Happy Birthday, Honey Rays,” the girls all cheer as I walk into my living room. Cloudy Skies, Derpy, Mary May, Open Skies and my parents were all gathered around, my dad holding a humungous cake with Happy Sixteen, Honey written in blue icing on the front. I laugh, shaking my head. “You guys didn’t have to do this.” “But we wan’ed to,” Cloudy says, grinning. I laugh again and the party starts in earnest. While everypony’s milling around, enjoying the party food and what not, I notice Derpy is sitting by one of the windows, looking out with distant eyes. I walk over and sit down next to her. “Everything okay?” She starts, clearing not having notice my coming over. She sighs and looks down at herself. She’s six months along now, the bulge is very evident. “Derpy, just because it’s my party, doesn’t mean I can’t lend an ear to somepony else’s problems,” I say, moving so I was right alongside her. She sighs again and looks away. “Do... do you think I’m going to make a good mommy?” I blink, before frowning. “Derpy, you’re going to be a great mother. Sure, getting pregnant when you’re only thirteen isn’t something that normally happens, but you’ll do great.” “You don’t find it odd that I want to keep the foal?” she asks, looking at me sadly, before casting her gaze down once again. “I know everypony at school’s talking about me, how I’m too young.” I growl. Despite her dad making them move back to Ponyville after Derpy got pregnant, Derpy still goes to Cloudsdale High and many of the other students kept gossiping about her pregnancy, and not in a good way. I lift a wing, pulling Derpy close. “Hon, it doesn’t matter what those ponies think. They’re not the ones carrying a new life and are willing to not only bring it into the world, but to raise it themselves. You’re an amazing mare, Derpy. Not many others would’ve done that. Don’t let anypony ever make you think any different.” She remains silent for a long time. Then, slowly, a teeny tiny smile forms on her lips, before she leans her neck onto my shoulder. “Thanks, Honey. I needed to hear that.” I smile, nuzzling her mane. She’s a wonderful pony. I know she’ll make things work. I blink, frowning. What the heck...? I glance around, feeling dazed, as if I’m surprised to find myself in my own living room. I look back at the clock— an do a double take. It’s almost 8AM. What the...? How did I blank out for almost a quarter of an hour? I scratch my head. Maybe I should lay of the all-night gaming for a while. I’m probably just still tired. Spending the first hours of your twenty-fifth birthday going to bed. Wow. You’re a real party animal. I chuckle, head for my room and just plonk down on my bed, not bothering to change out of my clothes or even get under the covers. As sleep takes me, I rub my right thigh, a slight frown on my face. It felt really warm for some reason. ___________________________________________________________ My alarm goes off and I sit up, yawning. Wow. Talk about a good long sleep. Feels like I slept for hours. Though my stomach is driving me nuts. When was the last time I ate again? I turn on my phone, looking at the clock on it with bleary eyes— only for them to shoot wide open. The time is 8:21AM May 5th? I slept through my whole birthday. I frown. Well, this sucks. I look down at my messages. Holy crap. Over fifty, twenty being birthday wishes, the rest all asking why I wasn’t answering my phone. I facepalm. Great. One of the most important days of my life, and I slept right through it and worried everyone. Sighing, I get up and go have some breakfast. My house isn’t really that big, it’s more of a unit, really. You can walk from one side of the house to the other in five seconds. I open the cupboards and pull out a bowl and a can of baked bean with bacon flavour. I grab a glass pour myself some OJ, sit down and eat. I can’t be bothered cooking or doing much else, not in the mood. Stupid idiot. Why’d you have to go and sleep through the whole day? You’re defiantly laying of the late-night gaming for a while. At least until you've gotten a good night's sleep! I finish my makeshift breakfast and have a shower. As I’m washing my thighs, however, I notice something that wasn’t there before. There’s a pair of lightning bolts on my thighs. I frown, rubbing them, thinking they’ll wash away. Nope. They stay right there. I spend several minutes scrubbing my thighs, trying to get these markings off. In the end the skin’s red raw from all the scrubbing, but the marks are still there. Once I finish in the shower I decide to go and visit Mr. Hiligan. He’s a nice old man. I just wish others would visit him. Most avoid him because he seems unhappy, but I can understand his sadness. He lost his family. That would make anyone a depressing person to be around. And I knew his sadness. I never even got to know my family. I’d been raised in an orphanage since I could remember. I didn’t have anything of my parents’, I’d just been left on the orphanage’s doorstep one night. No note, nothing. Since I never got adopted, I strove out on my own. I got a job as a software designer at a tech firm. I did pretty well, all things considered. Yeah, my pay wasn’t huge, but I got by. ___________________________________________________________ I close my door and walk into the living room, sighing. Figures I go for a visit when he isn’t home. Probably went out to do the groceries. I’ve told him I could do that for him, but he always insists. Nice a guy as he is, he can still be such a stubborn old man, sometimes. I yawn, looking at the time. It’s 3PM. I’d just bummed around after not finding Mr. Hiligan at his home or at the store downtown. I’d pretty much wasted another day. A record. First I waist my birthday sleeping and now I’ve wasted the day after. So productive. I heat up some instant beef lasagne for an early dinner and sit down to eat with a glass of milk. I take a bite of the pre-heated food, only to grab my mouth and run to the sink, spitting it out. I hurry back to the table and chug the milk. God, what the hell was that? The moment I put the food in my mouth my gag reflex went off like crazy. I glare at the offending dish. It must have gone off. I dump the inedible food into the waste bin and just make myself a peanut butter sandwich. After that off-lasagne, I can’t be stuffed doing much else. Sandwich eaten I decide to call it an early night and head for the bathroom. As I’m showering I glance down at the markings on my thighs. They’re still there. I groan. Where the hell did these come from? You don’t just get tattoos from sleeping in front of your TV playing Rust. How did...? Wait. My hair wasn’t this long before. I pull at a few strands of my hair. They’re a few centimetres longer than before. And... what is with the colouring? Amidst my smooth blonde hair there are now streaks of a slightly lighter blonde than there used to be? I frown. What the bloody hell? Okay, first it’s weird markings and now I’ve streaks in my hair? Was that from the sun? I didn't think my hair could do that? I growl. Someone’s pulling a really aggravating, really complicated and clearly well-done prank on me, and I. Don’t. Like it. Breathing out loudly through my nose and finish up in the shower and get out to brush my teeth. As I look in the mirror, toothbrush in mouth, I jerk back. What the hell? My eyes! They’re... they’ve turned golden-orange! How the hell did that happen? I reach my hands to my eyes, trying to find the contact lenses. This has to be a joke, right? There’s no way... my... eyes... I don’t find a contact, in either eye. I just stare at myself in the mirror, my eyes wide. I just stare, watching myself. I gape as my hair grows longer, reaching to just above my shoulder and the lighter streaks seem to spread. I cringe when my ears seem to vanish for a moment, only to reappear on the top of my head, peaking out through my ever colour-changing hair. Only, they’re not human anymore. They look equine, maybe... pony-like... and bright pink. I shriek when I feel a new appendage just grow above my ass and dangles down. I stare at my new “tail”, coloured like the streaks of regular lighter blonde that have almost completely overridden the brown in my hair. Now that I think about it, my hair’s looking more like a mane. Feeling around my neck, I can feel hair growing “on” my neck, extra hair. I slump onto the toilet seat, making sure not to seat on my new tail and just look down at my feet... Oh, they’re changing too. My middle toe had gotten larger and the nail looks stronger somehow. Well, at least I live alone, so I don’t have a roommate who’s gonna come home and freak out when they see what’s happened to me. After several minutes of just staring at my toes, I get up and walk in a daze to my room, before flopping onto the bed, completely naked and lose all consciousness. ___________________________________________________________ I’m a freak. They’re no other way of looking at it. I woke up this morning to find my feet had turned into hooves covered in bright pink fur. My teeth feel different too. And I can’t stop wondering if I have anything horses might eat somewhere. I don’t, but I can’t stop thinking about it. Not only that, but my boobs are gone! When I woke up I found my chest was completely bear. Well, my boobs aren't entirely gone. I still have my nipples... only now they’re down my body, a little above my groin, like teats on an animal. I’m certain of it. I have no idea how, nor why, but I am turning into a pony. A quick search online for a cutie mark matching the marks on my thighs confirmed it, even more so when I looked for ponies with a mane and tail colour like what my hair now completely was. One pony matched perfectly. Honey Rays. I don’t recognize her name, so I do a little research. She was a background Pegasus pony who appears throughout the whole five seasons of MLP. Despite the totally petrifying fear that I was changing from a human into an animal, a small part of my MLP fan self still managed to feel ticked off. Really? Really? I somehow start turning into a pony and I end up becoming some random background pony? I couldn’t have become best pony? Talk about lame. I groan. I’m complaining about how I’d rather be turning into one type of pony as opposed to another, when the fact is I’m losing my humanity? What the hell is wrong with me? URG! Sometimes being a big fan of that show is so annoying! As I was searching, I'd found something else among the bloggers on Fimfiction. A lot were talking about some kind of terrorist bombing in Seattle that happened two nights ago. Great, so my birthday is now also the day of a bombing. Wonderful. I don’t do much else for the day, what with now looking like a freak, making it impossible to go outside, other than sit in front of the TV and watch my DVD collection of the whole MLP series, Screw Blue-Ray. I prefer ordinary DVDs. By the time I decide to shower for before bed I’ve changed even more. Honey Rays’ pink fur now covers most of my legs. It’s harder to walk, too. My pelvis feels weird, probably because it’s now a pony pelvis and not a human’s. I finding it harder to move my fingers now. They’re getting really stiff and my middle finger nail’s growing just like my toe nail was. As I shower, I notice an odd feeling in my back. Feathers are there, the starting of my new wings, I guess. It’s a pity tomorrow’s going to be such a nice day. I’m not leaving the house like this, no way in hell. A part of me wants to question why I know this when I didn’t even watch the weather report, but, then again, I’ve always sort of been able to guess the weather. Maybe turning into a Pegasus is just making that guessing power stronger? By the time I’m getting into bed, fur covers most of my body. I can feel my face has turned into a snout, hell I can see my snout with my own eyes, which I can swear feel bigger. I curl up in bed, not even bothering to wear pajamas. What’s the point? Ponies don’t wear clothes. I close my eyes, praying that this is all just a really, really bad dream. ___________________________________________________________ This isn’t a dream, it’s a living nightmare! I wake up this morning and I’m completely, 100% Honey Rays. I just lay in bed for a long time, not bothering to get up. What’s the point? I’m a pony, a fucking pony! I can never go out in public again. How would the world react if they learned a human had turned into a pony from a cartoon show? The show. I guess I have a reason to get up after all. I go into the kitchen, grabbing everything I can eat without having to return to the kitchen for any reason, chips, dry cereal, etc. I had to get them all with my mouth, which proved hard, but not impossible, then returned to my pantry, pulling out every bottle of drink I had and brought it all to the living room. Food and drink all set, I sat down in front of the TV and watched MLP from start to finish all over again. I couldn’t really think of anything else I could do. Every day, that’s all I do, sit in front of the TV, watching all five seasons and the two movies, over and over again. By May 8th I’ve pretty much memorized the entire thing. I could probably recite everything the characters say and when they say them, even the background talk, word for word. I’ve only been getting up every now and then during each day to either use the toilet... more like just go in the backyard really, since I can’t figure out how to use a human toilet as a pony, to restock whenever I ran out of food, shower and sleep. That’s pretty much my life now. I just don’t see any reason to do anything else. I’m a fucking pony! The moment I leave this house I’m doomed. I’m almost out of food though. Wonder what I’ll do when that happens. I can’t go out and buy more. You ever heard of a pony just walking down the street to the store to buy goods. Yeah. Me neither. ___________________________________________________________ As A Canterlot Wedding part two ends for the umpteenth time, I glance out the window. It’s getting late, the sun’s almost down. May as well head for bed— Knock, knock, knock. I freeze midstep. Someone knocked on my door. Who? Was it Mr. Hiligan? Was he checking up on me to wonder why I haven’t spoken to him in almost a week? “Hello?” an official sounding voice calls from behind the door. It sounds male. “Is anyone home?” “Go away!” I shouted, turning to head back towards the showers. “Miss? Miss, can we please speak to you? It’s a matter of your own safety,” says a second male’s voice. I snort. “I don’t care. Just leave me alo—” “She’s a pony!” a voice shouts from outside and I turn to see someone wearing a hazmat suit peering in through my small back windows. “Confirmed. Pony confirmed!” Before I can even widen my eyes in realization, the door is bashed down and several humans wearing more hazmat suits run in. I scream, bolting for the back. I know there’s the human that spotted me out there, but maybe I can still get away! I crash through the door, which I realize the guy had been standing behind, so he fell back, slamming his head into the pavement. Having nowhere else to go, I decide to try something I really should’ve before. I open my wings out and flap as I run. To my surprise, I shoot up into the air with barely any effort. Guess I’ve got pegasi magic. I can no more than think this and notice the amazing feeling of being in the air, the cool night breeze blowing through my feather, however, when I feel a stinging sensation in my right flank. I suddenly feel tired. I keep trying to flap my wings, while reaching my neck back to look at where the stinging feeling had come from. There’s a small red dart sticking out of my flank. Oh... buck. I’m losing altitude fast, heading back down towards the yard, where several hazmat guys are standing there, waiting for me. I try to keep flapping, to fly away, but my muscles are already going numb. My wings are flapping erratically. I tumble to the ground, skidding along the grass. I look up as my eyes close to see a cage being brought towards me, several hazmats reaching for me. I black out. ___________________________________________________________ “Phew, am I glad this thing came with a shower,” a familiar voice says through the haze. It sounds female. “Yeah, Auntie. No offence, but you really stink when you sweat,” says another, this one also sounding female, but much younger. “Oh, and like you can talk, young man,” a third voice says, sounding female as well, but older than the second voice, more like an adult. I know that first voice. It sounds very familiar. “Hey, where’s Kelly?” the familiar voice asks. “In the loo,” another familiar voice says, this one male. “Really?” the first voice asks. “Why?” The second voice I recognized sighed. “She’s hurling. Don’t know why, but she’s been in there since you got into the shower.” It clicks. I know where those voices sound familiar. But... it can’t be... can it? I slowly open my eyes, struggling a little to force them to open. I’m lying on a soft bed with plain brown covers in a very spacious room that looked like a combination of living room, dining room (with a table surrounded by a joint chair built into the wall), an area with several bed, a bathroom and so on. I can see a pair of chairs a little way to my left, like those of a car. It took me a few moments to figure out, thanks to some of that tranquilizer still working its way out of my system, that I was in a camper van, an RV of some kind. “Hey, Auntie, she’s waking up,” the first voice I hadn’t recognized said as I worked through the haze still vaguely covering my mind. I struggle to sit up, looking around, my heart rate rising. More humans. Where am I? Am I in a holding cell in the CDC’s base? I can see a blurry image of what I can guess are two small humans by the way they’re standing on their hind legs. There’s only two other blotches, one of which is coming towards me. Each blotch is grey, though the one not coming towards me looks a little more teal than grey. I feel a hoof on my shoulder, my brain saying something about that should be registering to me but I can’t figure out what and turn to look at the grey blotch in front of me, panic mixing with confusion. “Are you okay?” it asks, sounding concerned. “You’ve been out for a while now.” I blink a few times, then shake my head furiously to clear the haze in my mind. When my eyesight finally settles I blink several more times, trying to figure out if I’m seeing things. Standing in front of me, her right foreleg outstretched, is a Pegasus pony with a blonde mane, grey coat and golden eyes, one of which is facing a direction the other isn’t. I gape, my mouth unable to form words. It... it... it’s... “DERPY!” I wail, leaping forward and wrapping my forelegs around her. If I had to be turned into a pony and trapped by the CDC in a strangely nice looking holding cell, at least I knew that, not only am I not the only pony here, but I’m with the one pony I’d want to be with. Derpy Hooves! It’s Derpy Hooves! Oh, there is a God out there! ___________________________________________________________ I twist my head, moving another pink feather into its proper place, making the area smooth. Honey gives a sigh that’s a mixture of relief, surprise and uncertainty. Once our latest pony addition had calmed down enough, we’d told her everything we could. When she’d woken up we’d been driving for almost two hours. It’s a ive hundred and night-nine mile drive from where we were to when we’d started driving to get to Des Moines, so we still a long way til we get there. We’d been about twenty minutes or so away from Kalamazoo when she woke up. The reason why was simple: Supplies. Mr. Hiligan may have given us this RV to get away, I’m thankful, but it’s not exactly well supplied and a lot of the things we packed got left behind when the CDC got Party, Jenny and the kids. We didn’t have time to get them back, so we were making a stop in Kalamazoo to buy more supplies to last us the trip to Des Moines. Amber had anxiously asked why we couldn’t have stopped to get supplies earlier, while she was still out? We could’ve gone shopping in Dearborn, Belleville, or Blackman. Why pass all those for Kalamazoo? Party had rolled his eyes before saying that the CDC will still be looking for us. The farther away we are when we stop, the better. Plus, it’ll mean we won’t need to go for supplies again so soon after we get to Des Moines. After that she went rather quiet. After some prodding from me and my laying down on my stomach next to her, she’d looked at me sadly. It was then I took notice of the state her wings were in. Terrible condition. I offered to preen her, since she obviously didn’t know how to herself. I’d figured out how to preen my own wings after a few days with having them and seeing her wings in such a state made me feel bad, so I’d offered to preen her. She hadn’t objected... sort of. She’d blushed when I offered, before explaining that, in the ideals of the fandom, preening was a very intimate thing between pegasi or others with feathered wings. I gently smiled and told her I wanted to fix them to make her feel better and because we pegasi should preen our wings every day. Tedious work at times, but necessary, even if we’re not flying. She seemed hesitant, but agreed, so I started preening her. It must have made her feel a lot better, because, whilst I preened her, she told us her story. As she did, I felt my heart break. She’d been all on her own during her change. Sure, Party had sort of gone through the same thing, but even he’d still had the Golds if he’d needed to just talk. And then he’d had me and the others. Turning into a pony and being one, while surrounded by those you feel you can trust had helped us deal with the change. This poor girl hadn’t had that peace. She’d not only gone through the change all on her own, but had no one she’d been able to confide in during that time. Then she gets taken away by the CDC, her last thoughts before passing out no doubt being that she’d be treated like an animal for the rest of her life. My heart really went out to this poor girl. No wonder her wings were in such a bad state. Nopony suffering that kind of a depression would bother preening. Once I learn this and go over it all in my mind, I start being gentler with my preening. She is very cute about it. I can’t help noticing that she’s wearing the oddest mixture of emotions I’ve ever seen. She has sadness, but also a relief, mixed with uncertainly and embarrassment, a blush on her muzzle like a school girl with a crush. As I preened her wings, I seemed to zone everything else out. I never even noticed when the RV stopped. It was only once I’d finished Honey’s preening an hour later that I took notice that only ponies were present in the vehicle home. Party explained that we’d reached Kalamazoo whilst I’d been preening Honey and no one had wanted to interrupt the tender moment we seemed to be having. Kelly and Jenny and the kids have gone out to get the shopping and lunch. I just hope they have the sense to not act nervous and the kids don’t say anything that adults would question. Last thing we need is the Kalamazoo authorities taking them in for suspicion of something. Party had been polite enough during the preening to sit up front in the passenger seat and keeping his eyes forward. Thanks to the heat cover on the windows, no one had seen him. Once I finish preening, I pull back and smile, saying, “All done. You’re wings are perfectly preened.” We elapse into a long silence, Honey resting against me. I can’t help noticing she seems calmer. I try to move, but feel a slight flinch. I decide I’ll stay with her like this, putting a wing over her in a gentle hug, to which she reacts by relaxing more than before and leaning her head against my side. She’s clearly still anxious and I seem to be helping her remain calm. “I still don’t understand,” Amber says after a while, lifting her head and glancing to me. “You remember Derpy’s life in Equestria?” I groan, rolling my eyes. I’d already explained this to her several times while I’d been preening her. For whatever reason, even before my transformation was complete, I’d started remembering all the dreams I’d been having since that one on the plane. I couldn’t remember them completely, small pieces were missing here and there, but large parts of them stood out. The memories of Derpy’s life in Ponyville, her time as a filly and then a young mare, raising Dinky, adopting Sparkler, heck, even the reason Party and I felt we knew each other... a lot of it stood out more than they had when the dreams had first started, along with the changes from human to pony and I was able to guess the parts missing pretty well. Maybe it was because I was with more than one other pony now? One dream, however, I could remember with perfect clarity, despite my desires to forget the whole thing. The dream when Discord banished Derpy and fused her to me. The fusion part itself I never saw/experienced, but her disappearing I did. The memory of how it felt to have my body... well, her’s, but it feels like mine in the dream, just disappearing like that, the sudden lose of limbs, still chilled me to the bone. Party didn’t fair too well with the memories of the pony he was fused with even now, I seemed to have fared much better. He could only seem to remember small chunks of all his dreams, the dream when Discord got Party being the only one he knew well because he’d written down the small bits he remembered every time and then put them all together. Amber herself couldn’t seem to remember much about Honey Rays, either. I wasn’t sure if it was that, or what she’d been through that caused her to pretty much act like Fluttershy in the show. “Maybe... it’s because you were hit with the wrong spell?” I blink and turn, cocking my head at the pink Pegasus. Party seems just as confused, coming over, an eyebrow raised. “Wrong spell? How could she have been hit with the wrong spell? It’s clear Discord did this to all three of us, maybe even more. How could the spell he got Derpy with have been wrong when it was the same as what hit us?” “Because he meant for that spell to hit Dinky.” Party and I glance at each other, not understanding. I look back to Amber, confused. “What do you mean he meant to hit Dinky?” She closes her eyes. “I know I’ve not had as much time to think about this as you two, but, you told me how you saved Dinky, right?” “Derpy saved her,” I corrected. “I’m not her, I’m just fused with her.” She nods, then shakes her head. “Okay, well, you said that Derpy was scared, that Discord had clearly meant to go for Dinky, which was why she started running, correct?” I nod, wondering where she’s going with this. She takes a breath, then looks firmly at me. “When Derpy had been hit with Discord’s spell, it hadn’t been meant for her. He was aiming for Dinky, that was the reason Derpy had started running in the first place.” I blink, going over it in my mind. She... wow. I’d never thought of it like that. She nods. “That spell had been meant for Dinky, to fuse her with a human, probably you. But, because she saw it coming and Dinky had been on her back, Derpy bucked Dinky out the way. With Dinky not there for the spell to hit, it kept going, getting Derpy instead. Maybe, because the spell had been meant for Dinky, but hit Derpy instead, it didn’t work completely as it should. Think of some of the words in his spell. Some of the words he used had given me the idea.” I hear those haunting words in my head as if he was standing right next to me. Your mind shall be weak, your outlook bleak! Forgetting everything and living like a fool... My eyes widen and she nods again. “If those were the words, maybe it meant that, once they were fused with us, their memories were meant to be locked away as they lived as one with us. Then, when we started turning into them, they were leaking out a little, but the spell was still working, keeping the pony memories from fully surfacing.” “But, since Derpy had been hit by the spell meant for her daughter, maybe the mind part of the spell didn’t quite work, which is why she’s able to hold onto her memories more so than us,” Party nodded, understanding. I remained there, going over what had just been relayed to me. It wasn’t really much of a theory, since it was working with no real evidence, but it was the best we really had right now. It wasn’t like there were any books to reference this kind of thing. The sound of laughter came from outside, followed by the door opening and Sally and Mark hurrying on, carrying McDonalds Happy Meal boxes, and hurried over to the table, sitting down and opening the boxes and pulling out their food. A few moments later, Kelly and Jenny came in as well, Kelly carrying a large cardboard case holding five different meals, Jenny pushing a trolley laidened with more food than I’d ever seen in one go. Party Favor moved over and, lighting his horn, levitated everything out of the trolley and moved them into their appropriate areas of storage: the cold foods we’d likely be eating sooner rather than later went into the joint fridge and small freeze, other cold goods, such as meats, were put into the larger freezer in the laundry area and the other produces like cereal and other dry foods went into the pantry. I noticed there were some alfalfa pellet sacks being placed in the pantry too. I grinned. Ever since becoming a pony, that stuff tasted amazing. No wonder horses like it so much. While Party was moving all the bought items, I assisted Kelly with the food she’d gotten for the rest of us. I took note that Amber and myself had chicken wraps with some bacon, which caused me to lick my lips. One thing I loved about being a pony, it hadn’t robbed me of my enjoyment of pig meat. Party frowned at his meal. It was just two salads. We had sides as well, large fries and cokes for all. When Amber asked why he didn’t have a chicken wrap, Party explained something we’d learned about him. While I could still eat things like bacon, fish and chicken, it seemed he couldn’t. It had taken a little time to figure out it was because, as a Pegasus, I could still digest those things do to my different metabolism. Unicorns, it seemed, couldn’t eat such things. Because of this, though, Kelly had gotten two large fries for Party, since he had to miss out on the chicken and the bacon. We all sat around the table, an odd sight, when you think about it, enjoying our meals. I loved the wraps. Before I’d turned into a pony, eating raw tomatoes and lettuce had always made me want to gag. Now though, I tore into the wrap with both those things and found them “so good”. Once lunch was eaten and done, Kelly took all the rubbish to the bin, while Jenny returned the trolley to the store. When they were back, Kelly got into the driver’s seat to give Jenny a rest, since she’d been driving since we’d had to make our getaway and we were headed down the road again.